About Toroi Bandi

Toroi Bandi, or Nanzad Danzan lived during the period of 1834 to 1904. He was known as a Dariganga shiliin sain er. He could be compared to Robin Hood, which were stealing from the rich, to give back to the poor. Many songs and legends were written about him.The Dariganga-Дарьганга- are an eastern Mongol subgroup who mainly live in Dari Ovoo and Ganga Lake, in the province of Sukhbaatar, which is in the eastern part of Mongolia.

About Toroi Bandi

Toroi Bandi heard about two Sain Er that were on the west side of the Bayandelger.After searching and searching, he finally found them in a cave close to the Undur Bogd mountain.

Once Toroi arrived at the cave, he entered from above and asked:

- Well, is there anything that you couldn't catch?

Then they answered:

- Yes, there is a rich man in the north west with a fast sharga horse that we couldn't catch, and we haven't reached the end of this cave yet... These are the two things that we could not do.

After hearing that, Toroi Bandi discussed with them on how to capture the fast sharga horse from that rich man.

- Okay, in order to take that horse, we will need to get a sheep. After that, one of you will go with my mount which will start to crawl as soon as it gets around the sheep's enclosure. When you have the opportunity, take one, load it on the horse and flee!

Then he instructed them to never ever say the word Choo*.The first Sain Er caught a sheep just as Toroi Bandi instructed. Everything was going well until he started loading the sheep onto the horse. At that time, the family's dog started barking, and taken by surprise, the Sain Er said "Choo!".His mount startled and in one jump left the outlaw alone with the sheep in his arm inside the enclosure.

The horse galloped back to his master, Toroi Bandi, with only an empty saddle. Toroi Bandi realised that his first mate remained around the enclosure with the sheep.

The day after, he charged the remaining man to collect a large amount of small stones, put them in a saddle bag and hang it on the horse.

Toroi Bandi dressed in lord's clothes and went to pay a visit to the rich Tibetan man.

Once there, the Tibetan's family asked him:

- Dear lord, where are you coming from, and where are you heading? Some thief stole from our household, but luckily we were able to capture him right away.

- Oh, I'm on my way back from collecting my master's tributes. Unfortunately I got separated from my convoy in the evening. I am going to stay overnight and sleep here.

- Of course, why not!

And then the family of the rich Tibetan man prepared a comfortable yurt as well as food and drinks for the lord.

Then the lord (Toroi) said:

- Take that outlaw in your spare yurt and put a guard to watch him! And with him, bring my belongings. As the outlaw is tied and guarded, I know it will be safe. Also I will sleep close to my money, so prepare a bed in this spare yurt.

The lord fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.The two guards watched the whole night, but at dawn, they started to doze. At that time, Toroi woke up, untied his mate, and helped him escape with his horse and the bag full of stones. As soon as he had done this, he went back to sleep.

Later, the family woke up before Toroi, in panic, realising the outlaw had run away with the lord's belongings.In despair, the family rushed around every which way, shouting:

- The horse and the belongings of the lord are gone, and the outlaw has fled as well!

While sitting at the place of honour in the yurt, the lord declared:

- Well, to lose the goods of a master is an outrageous felony. It's unfortunate that this has happened. It means that you will lose your head. However, if I had a swift horse, then there would be a way to solve this situation.

They begged him:

- Please, dear lord, show us that way! Save our lives! We still have this fast sharga horse! Ride it and run! Please do your best to keep us alive!

With those words, the family offered Toroi Bandi many treasures as well as the swift sharga horse and sent him away.

* For Mongolians, saying the word choo while riding a horse is to make the horse move or gallop.